By Margaret Maccoll
Thirty Sunshine Coast firefighters headed to Fraser Island Monday morning to battle an out of control bushfire that had already consumed about 74,000 hectares of bushland on the World-Heritage-listed sand island. As ground crews battle, aerial firefighters have saved a campsite managed by a Noosa-based tour company.
Sunshine Coast QFES inspector Matthew Inwood said the rural firefighters who accompanied five fire trucks to the island replaced 30 Sunshine Coast firefighters who had been on the island for about three days prior, fighting the fire.
Inspector Inwood said QFES ground crews were working together with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation to limit the spread of the fire and minimise environmental and cultural impacts while 10 aircraft crews fought it from above.
He said crews had created fire breaks and were back burning off them but there were difficulties in reaching the fire in inaccessible areas.
The bushfire has been burning on two fronts – one front burning north east of Kingfisher Bay Resort with the second front on the eastern side of the island, about two kilometres south of Cathedrals on Fraser.
About 4pm last Sunday firefighters contacted James Kendall from Noosa-based Discovery Adventure Group to tell him the fire was just north of the three acre campsite his company leases from the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation and heading straight for the 106 tent campsite.
James said the group operates overnight tours to Fraser Island for visitors who stay at their campsite. The last group to visit the island returned on Friday with this week’s tours cancelled because of the fire.
Aerial crews dropped their water bombs on the campsite, saving it from the blaze that circled the camp on its path southward. It was a great relief for the company that has been hard hit by COVID.
“It’s been a pretty ugly year,“ James said. “We had a team of 57. We got down to two with COVID, now we’ve built up to 32 with Jobkeeker.“
If not for firefighters the fire believed to have been caused by an illegal campfire would have wiped out their campsite, their infrastructure as well as a house owned and occupied on site by the Butchulla people.
The Discovery Adventure Group is one of the few companies with a licence to conduct guided eco-tours on the World Heritage listed Fraser Island.
James said they were fortunate so far that the damage from the fire was in areas they did not visit but it was devastating that about 40 per cent of the island had been burnt.
The group has had to cancel five tours this week and will likely have to cancel more next week.
“That hurts when you’re trying to rebuild,“ he said.
Weather conditions have been predicted to exacerbate fire and smoke conditions with the smoke affecting the island and Noosa.
Travel to the island has been restricted and residents, campers and visitors already on the island have been advised to limit their movements to within close proximity of where they are staying and avoid travelling on the inland tracks and roads.
